Access to genetic testing represents a tremendous breakthrough in people's ability to manage their health. Identifying genetic markers can lead to early intervention in conditions ranging from Alzheimer's to some cancers.

Unfortunately, many Canadians are apprehensive about this miraculous diagnostic tool. Their fears are well-founded -- ours is the only G7 country with no law to protect genetic test results.

Genetic discrimination takes many forms. Results can make it all but impossible for some applicants to get affordable health insurance. It can lead to candidates being passed over for employment or promotion.

Canadians have even been denied child custody in divorce cases and rejected as adoptive parents -- all because their genetic test results were used against them.

The government is poised to right this wrong. Last year the Senate voted unanimously to pass Bill S-201, introduced by Sen. James Cowan, creating a Genetic Non-Discrimination Act. The bill is now before the House of Commons where it awaits a third and final reading.

The staunchest opposition to the pending legislation, unsurprisingly, has come from the insurance industry. The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) has lobbied for voluntary standards.

This week CLHIA stepped up its campaign against the pending legislation with an industry-wide pledge to forego genetic test results for applicants buying up to $250,000 in life insurance coverage -- a threshold it says represents 85 per cent of Canadians.

CLHIA's president and CEO Frank Swedlove says the voluntary code of conduct, which will take effect Jan. 1, 2018, obviates new anti-discrimination legislation. "The bill isn't really necessary to meet the needs for the vast majority of Canadians," he said.

Anyone who wants coverage over $250,000 may not find this comforting, but that doesn't top the list of problems with this Hail Mary pass. Making the conversation about life insurance is a distraction. The voluntary commitment on one kind of policy doesn't address the needs of people seeking critical illness or other health insurance coverage. Nor does it protect Canadians facing discrimination in the workplace and beyond.

Insurance is based on pooled risk -- large numbers of people chipping in to a fund that only some of them will cash in. But insurers also like to manage individual risk. Hence the collection of extensive personal information, from an insured's weight and marital status to their psychiatric history or propensity for skydiving.

The potential to pinpoint individual risk with ever-greater accuracy has exploded with the development of new genetic tests. When the human genome was mapped in 2003, there were about 100 tests available for genetic mutations associated with medical conditions, according to a legislative backgrounder on Bill S-201. Within 10 years the number of tests had grown to 2,000; today there are more than 33,660 tests available for some 10,000 conditions.

Swedlove maintains restricting access to genetic testing will result in higher insurance costs. "Our goal is to continue to ensure that all Canadians can access insurance at fair and reasonable prices," he said in a news release. However, analyses commissioned by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada came to a different conclusion. Both actuarial and economic experts concluded, for now, losing access to genetic test results would not have a significant impact on insurers; however, it would create more equitable access to coverage for the people they insure.

The last word goes to MP Rob Oliphant, who sponsored the legislation before the House of Commons: "I don't think voluntary efforts, when it comes to discrimination, are ever appropriate. The reality is there is a power imbalance."